The Naperville Park District 14-inch Mushball Season Is in Full Swing
Mushball is a quick game closely resembling softball with some rules that are similar to baseball, only it’s played on a smaller diamond with a 14-inch ball that is larger and much softer than a baseball or a softball. Though some players use a mitt, most players catch with bare hands.
For the Naperville Park District 14-inch Mushball League of co-ed teams, women players can use fielding gloves, but men cannot wear a glove.
On Wed., April 25, players in the Naperville Park District 14-inch Mushball League lined up to bat and field at 9:30PM for the last of four games under the lights at Knoch Park. Teams are made up of five men and five women.
For this game, Quigley’s Irish Pub was matched up with the Naperville Park District team.
For the fifth year, Quigley’s has sponsored the team. This year the team is comprised of John Corrigan, Team Captain, who pitched along with Chuck Corrigan on Wednesday; Kristen Sobolewski; Cathy Parker; Kelley Daniels; Lauren Rohan; Rose McMahon, who played catcher; Bill McMahon; Robert Schumann; Ben Albright; Danny Zager; Jack Manning; Chuck Corrigan; Bryan Corrigan; Chad Bellenie. Bryan Corrigan and Chad Bellenie missed Wednesday’s game.
The league promotes competitive fun. The season runs from now until early August, with one game per week.
“Quigley’s has sponsored our current team for five years,” said Chuck Corrigan. “We have had a team a lot longer than that, probably between 15-20 years. We started in the Monday night league, where we were until 2008, when we moved to Thursdays and merged our team with an existing Quigley’s team. (Both teams were a bit short on players at the time.) The team moved to the Wednesday league in 2009, where we have been since then.”
Their team has a few prized trophies on display in the Cottage Room at Quigley’s Irish Pub.
“It is a lot of fun,” said Chuck Corrigan. “And nice to still be playing.”
On the other side of the fence, scorekeeper Jason Newland, pictured in the blue sweatshirt sitting tallying statistics, has been keeping track of players’ hits and outs in the seven-inning games for four years. Typically, Newland keeps score for four games a night beginning at 6:30PM for four or five nights a week during the 16-week season.
After about 45 minutes, Quigley’s Irish Pub’s team had won, 10 to 4. Nancy Quigley and the team’s mascot, Charlie Bear, were on hand to watch the victory.
In good sport style, all players congratulated each other for the fun competition after the game in the league that includes an official umpire from the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA) behind home plate.
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